847 research outputs found
"So what will you do if string theory is wrong?"
I briefly discuss the accomplishments of string theory that would survive a
complete falsification of the theory as a model of nature and argue the
possibility that such a survival may necessarily mean that string theory would
become its own discipline, independently of both physics and mathematics
Simulating quantum operations with mixed environments
We study the physical resources required to implement general quantum
operations, and provide new bounds on the minimum possible size which an
environment must be in order to perform certain quantum operations. We prove
that contrary to a previous conjecture, not all quantum operations on a
single-qubit can be implemented with a single-qubit environment, even if that
environment is initially prepared in a mixed state. We show that a mixed
single-qutrit environment is sufficient to implement a special class of
operations, the generalized depolarizing channels.Comment: 4 pages Revtex + 1 fig, pictures at
http://stout.physics.ucla.edu/~smolin/tetrahedron .Several small correction
Covariant quantization of membrane dynamics
A Lorentz covariant quantization of membrane dynamics is defined, which also
leaves unbroken the full three dimensional diffeomorphism invariance of the
membrane. Among the applications studied are the reduction to string theory,
which may be understood in terms of the phase space and constraints, and the
interpretation of physical,zero-energy states. A matrix regularization is
defined as in the light cone gauged fixed theory but there are difficulties
implementing all the gauge symmetries. The problem involves the
non-area-preserving diffeomorphisms which are realized non-linearly in the
classical theory. In the quantum theory they do not seem to have a consistent
implementation for finite N. Finally, an approach to a genuinely background
independent formulation of matrix dynamics is briefly described.Comment: Latex, 21 pages, no figure
Quantum widening of CDT universe
The physical phase of Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) is known to be
described by an effective, one-dimensional action in which three-volumes of the
underlying foliation of the full CDT play a role of the sole degrees of
freedom. Here we map this effective description onto a statistical-physics
model of particles distributed on 1d lattice, with site occupation numbers
corresponding to the three-volumes. We identify the emergence of the quantum
de-Sitter universe observed in CDT with the condensation transition known from
similar statistical models. Our model correctly reproduces the shape of the
quantum universe and allows us to analytically determine quantum corrections to
the size of the universe. We also investigate the phase structure of the model
and show that it reproduces all three phases observed in computer simulations
of CDT. In addition, we predict that two other phases may exists, depending on
the exact form of the discretised effective action and boundary conditions. We
calculate various quantities such as the distribution of three-volumes in our
model and discuss how they can be compared with CDT.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure
Regularization of the Hamiltonian constraint and the closure of the constraint algebra
In the paper we discuss the process of regularization of the Hamiltonian
constraint in the Ashtekar approach to quantizing gravity. We show in detail
the calculation of the action of the regulated Hamiltonian constraint on Wilson
loops. An important issue considered in the paper is the closure of the
constraint algebra. The main result we obtain is that the Poisson bracket
between the regulated Hamiltonian constraint and the Diffeomorphism constraint
is equal to a sum of regulated Hamiltonian constraints with appropriately
redefined regulating functions.Comment: 23 pages, epsfig.st
Link Invariants of Finite Type and Perturbation Theory
The Vassiliev-Gusarov link invariants of finite type are known to be closely
related to perturbation theory for Chern-Simons theory. In order to clarify the
perturbative nature of such link invariants, we introduce an algebra V_infinity
containing elements g_i satisfying the usual braid group relations and elements
a_i satisfying g_i - g_i^{-1} = epsilon a_i, where epsilon is a formal variable
that may be regarded as measuring the failure of g_i^2 to equal 1.
Topologically, the elements a_i signify crossings. We show that a large class
of link invariants of finite type are in one-to-one correspondence with
homogeneous Markov traces on V_infinity. We sketch a possible application of
link invariants of finite type to a manifestly diffeomorphism-invariant
perturbation theory for quantum gravity in the loop representation.Comment: 11 page
THE VOLUME OPERATOR IN DISCRETIZED QUANTUM GRAVITY
We investigate the spectral properties of the volume operator in quantum
gravity in the framework of a previously introduced lattice discretization. The
presence of a well-defined scalar product in this approach permits us to make
definite statements about the hermiticity of quantum operators. We find that
the spectrum of the volume operator is discrete, but that the nature of its
eigenstates differs from that found in an earlier continuum treatment.Comment: 15 pages, TeX, 3 figures (postscript, compressed and uu-encoded), May
9
The physical hamiltonian in nonperturbative quantum gravity
A quantum hamiltonian which evolves the gravitational field according to time
as measured by constant surfaces of a scalar field is defined through a
regularization procedure based on the loop representation, and is shown to be
finite and diffeomorphism invariant. The problem of constructing this
hamiltonian is reduced to a combinatorial and algebraic problem which involves
the rearrangements of lines through the vertices of arbitrary graphs. This
procedure also provides a construction of the hamiltonian constraint as a
finite operator on the space of diffeomorphism invariant states as well as a
construction of the operator corresponding to the spatial volume of the
universe.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, no figures, CGPG/93/
Finite, diffeomorphism invariant observables in quantum gravity
Two sets of spatially diffeomorphism invariant operators are constructed in
the loop representation formulation of quantum gravity. This is done by
coupling general relativity to an anti- symmetric tensor gauge field and using
that field to pick out sets of surfaces, with boundaries, in the spatial three
manifold. The two sets of observables then measure the areas of these surfaces
and the Wilson loops for the self-dual connection around their boundaries. The
operators that represent these observables are finite and background
independent when constructed through a proper regularization procedure.
Furthermore, the spectra of the area operators are discrete so that the
possible values that one can obtain by a measurement of the area of a physical
surface in quantum gravity are valued in a discrete set that includes integral
multiples of half the Planck area. These results make possible the construction
of a correspondence between any three geometry whose curvature is small in
Planck units and a diffeomorphism invariant state of the gravitational and
matter fields. This correspondence relies on the approximation of the classical
geometry by a piecewise flat Regge manifold, which is then put in
correspondence with a diffeomorphism invariant state of the gravity-matter
system in which the matter fields specify the faces of the triangulation and
the gravitational field is in an eigenstate of the operators that measure their
areas.Comment: Latex, no figures, 30 pages, SU-GP-93/1-
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